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Cognitive Linguistics Croft&Cruse. 1: Introduction: what is cognitive linguistics?. Three hypotheses guide Cognitive Linguistics:. Language is not an autonomous cognitive facility Grammar is conceptualization Knowledge of language emerges from language use
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Cognitive Linguistics Croft&Cruse 1: Introduction: what is cognitive linguistics?
Three hypotheses guide Cognitive Linguistics: • Language is not an autonomous cognitive facility • Grammar is conceptualization • Knowledge of language emerges from language use • [These three hypotheses present alternatives to generative syntax and truth-conditional semantics]
Language is not an autonomous cognitive facility • Corollaries: • Linguistic knowledge – the knowledge of meaning and form – is conceptual structure. This means that semantic, syntactic, morphological, and phonological representation is conceptual. • The cognitive processes that govern language are the same as other cognitive abilities. The component cognitive skills are not unique to language.
Language is not an autonomous cognitive facility • Implications for research: • Cognitive linguistics aims to demonstrate that language can be adequately modeled using general conceptual structures and cognitive abilities • There is a serious attempt to ensure that cognitive linguistic models comport well with results of research in cognitive psychology
Grammar is conceptualization • Conceptual structure cannot be reduced to a truth-conditional correspondence with the world. Human beings conceptualize their experience, and all aspects of conceptual structure are subject to construal. Grammatical inflections and constructions play a major role in construing experience.
Knowledge of language emerges from language use • Categories and structures in semantics, syntax, morphology and phonology are built up from our cognition of specific utterances on specific occasions of use. • [I would argue that this is both an inductive and an abductive process, not just inductive…]